Refugees Remembered on Memorial Day

Orange County Peace Coalition Commemorate Memorial Day

From Huffington Post article:

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been recognized as a progressive town in North Carolina and the U.S. South. Home to one of the oldest public universities in the nation, this town has played an important role in the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and other social justice movements.

The town of Chapel Hill welcomed Syrian refugees, in response to Gov. Patrick McCrory’s call to halt the future resettlement of Syrian refugees in North Carolina. Chapel Hill’s progressive character was on display during Memorial Day commemoration on May 30, 2016. Titled “Hearing the Voiceless: Refugees at Home and Abroad,” this event commemorated the sacrifices of the veterans, as well as, the suffering of the victims of wars, including the refugees.

The highlight of the event was the focus on refugees and a rise in Islamophobia. A relatively peaceful and progressive town of Chapel Hill became a global headline when three Muslim students were murdered there last year. Institutional forms of oppression against Muslims and other marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ community, have increased in North Carolina in the recent years. North Carolina General Assembly passed transphobic law, House Bill 2, earlier this year that also robs such municipal powers as increasing the minimum wage. North Carolina General Assembly passed anti-Sharia law in 2013. A version of that bill was tied to legislation on women’s reproductive health.

These developments have emphasized the need to build an intersectional movement that connects campaigns against Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, sexism, anti-immigrant attacks, anti-worker attacks and other oppressions.